Windproof umbrella

ABSTRACT

A windproof umbrella resistant to inversion from the wind and effective in ventilation is disclosed. A frame of the umbrella comprises a hub and upper and lower rings on the shank. A canopy of the umbrella comprises lower, intermediate, and upper canopies all being concentric and in a partial covering relation between any two adjacent ones. Ropes are interconnected between centers at sectors of an upper peripheral edge of the lower canopy and through holes of the upper ring by looping. Hence, lower and upper openings between the overlapped areas of the canopies are formed for air escape when wind caught beneath the canopy assembly applies pressure to an inner surface of the canopy assembly.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to umbrellas and more particularlyto an improved windproof umbrella that is resistant to inversion fromthe wind as well as is effective in ventilating air between theunderside of umbrella and the upper side thereof.

[0003] 2. Description of Related Art

[0004] Typically, an umbrella is a foldable means carried by people forprotection against the rain and/or sun. In addition, canopy is typicallyan opaque cloth having a close texture. This also means the permeabilitythereof is poor. As such, an umbrella user often feels muggy under thehot sun due to the poor ventilation. To the worse, in a rainy windy day,a wind will catch an umbrella user unaware and exert a force against theinner surface of the canopy. As a result, the canopy will invert fromits normal operative position to an upwardly convex position.

[0005] The invention involves improvements particularly for increasingwindproof and air escape capabilities over U.S. Pat. No. 6,250,319 B1entitled “Vented Umbrella”, the contents of which are hereinincorporated by reference.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] It is an object of the present invention to provide a windproofumbrella comprising a plurality of canopies in a partial coveringrelation between any two adjacent ones with a plurality of openingsformed therebetween for providing air escape during high winds byreleasing pressure exerted against an inner surface of the canopy,thereby preventing inversion of the umbrella.

[0007] To achieve the above and other objects, the present inventionprovides a windproof umbrella comprising a foldable frame including ashank, a hub on a top of the shank, an upper ring on the shank, and alower ring on the shank, a plurality of ribs, and a plurality ofstretchers, equal to the number of the ribs; a plurality of ropes; and acanopy assembly covered on the stretched frame and including an uppercanopy, an intermediate canopy, and a lower canopy all being concentricwherein the lower canopy has an upper peripheral edge coupled to therope which is coupled to the upper ring, the intermediate canopy has alower peripheral portion covered on the upper peripheral edge of thelower canopy, and the upper canopy has a lower peripheral portioncovered on an upper peripheral edge of the intermediate canopy so as toform a plurality of lower openings between a lower peripheral edge ofthe intermediate canopy and the upper peripheral edge of the lowercanopy and a plurality of upper openings between a lower peripheral edgeof the upper canopy and the upper peripheral edge of the intermediatecanopy for air escape when wind caught beneath the canopy assemblyapplies pressure to an inner surface of the canopy assembly.

[0008] Preferably, a locking tab is provided below a sliding upper ringand a torsion spring is provided between the hub and the upper ringrespectively.

[0009] The above and other objects, features and advantages of thepresent invention will become apparent from the following detaileddescription taken with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first preferred embodiment ofwindproof umbrella according to the invention, viewed from above theumbrella;

[0011]FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view of the umbrella of FIG. 1 forshowing interior details;

[0012]FIG. 3 is a side view of the umbrella of FIG. 2;

[0013]FIG. 4 is a side view illustrating wind flow in the umbrella ofFIG. 1; and

[0014]FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a second preferred embodiment ofwindproof umbrella according to the invention, viewed from below theumbrella.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0015] Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4, there is shown a windproofumbrella constructed in accordance with a first preferred embodiment ofthe invention. A foldable frame of the umbrella comprises a shank 70, alower ring 71, a fixed upper ring 100, and a hub 72 all provided aroundthe shank 70, a plurality of ribs 73, and a plurality of stretchers 74,equal to the number of the ribs 73. A canopy assembly 80 of the umbrellacovered on the stretched frame comprises an upper canopy 80A, anintermediate canopy 81, and a lower canopy 82 all being concentric. Thelower canopy 82 has an upper peripheral edge 821 coupled to one of aplurality of ropes 90, which is in turn coupled to the upper ring 100.The intermediate canopy 81 has a lower peripheral portion 811 covered onthe upper peripheral edge 821 of the lower canopy 82. The upper canopy80A has a lower peripheral portion 801 covered on an upper peripheraledge 812 of the intermediate canopy 81. As such, both a peripheraloverlapped area between a lower peripheral edge 811 of the intermediatecanopy 81 and the upper peripheral edge 821 of the lower canopy 82 and aperipheral overlapped area between a lower peripheral edge 801 of theupper canopy 80A and the upper peripheral edge 812 of the intermediatecanopy 81 are increased. In other words, upper and lower groups ofopenings are formed in both the peripheral overlapped areas forproviding increased air escape from under the umbrella during highwinds.

[0016] The provision of the rope 90 is to make a plurality of loweropenings 824 between the lower peripheral edge 811 of the intermediatecanopy 81 and the upper peripheral edge 821 of the lower canopy 82larger (see FIG. 4). In the embodiment, the rope 90 is implemented as anonelastic one. The rope 90 has a first end 91 substantiallyhorizontally secured to a center at each sector of the upper peripheraledge 821 of the lower canopy 82 by stitching a loop 822 (see FIG. 2)thereat. The rope 90 also has a second end 92 having a nodesubstantially horizontally locked under one of a plurality of throughholes on the upper ring 100. Hence, the openings 824 are expanded tomaximum with the rope 90 being taut when a strong wind exerts a forceagainst an inner surface of the canopy assembly 80. As shown in FIG. 4,the upper peripheral edge 821 of the lower canopy 82 is substantiallyhorizontally pulled off by the rope 90 at a strong wind condition. Also,the rope 90 is approximately perpendicular to the ribs 73. As a result,the purpose of expanding the openings 824 to the full is achieved.Moreover, a plurality of upper, small openings 802 are further formed atthe overlapped area between lower peripheral edge 801 of the uppercanopy 81A and the upper peripheral edge 812 of the intermediate canopy81. With the forming of both groups of the openings 802, 824, wind maymuch easily escape from the underside of the umbrella to the upper sidethereof during high winds, resulting in ventilation increasing.

[0017] Referring to FIG. 5, there is shown a windproof umbrellaconstructed in accordance with a second preferred embodiment of theinvention. The second preferred embodiment substantially has samestructure as the first preferred embodiment. The difference between thefirst and the second preferred embodiments, i.e., the characteristics ofthe second preferred embodiment are detailed below. An upper ring 100Ais made slidable. A torsion spring 101 is provided between the hub 72and the upper ring 10A. A locking tab 102 is provided below the upperring 100A on the shank 70. With this configuration, tautness of the rope90 is adapted to the strength of wind. Also, the sizes of the openings824 are adapted to the strength of wind. Note that in practice anorientation of the rope 90 may be at an angle other than 90 degrees withrespect to a horizontal direction. For example, the orientation of therope 90 having an angle between −30 degrees and +30 degrees with respectto a horizontal direction is also possible.

[0018] While the invention herein disclosed has been described by meansof specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could bemade thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from thescope and spirit of the invention set forth in the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A windproof umbrella comprising: a foldable frameincluding a shank, a hub on a top of the shank, an upper ring on theshank, and a lower ring on the shank, a plurality of ribs, each havingone end pivotally linked to the hub, and a plurality of stretchers,equal to the number of the ribs, each having one end pivotally linked tothe lower ring and an other end thereof pivotally linked to a middleportion of a corresponding one of the ribs; a plurality of ropes havinga first end and a second end; and a canopy assembly covered on thefoldable frame and including an upper canopy, an intermediate canopy,and a lower canopy each consisting of a plurality of sectors all ofcanopies being concentric and in a partial covering relation between anytwo adjacent ones, wherein the lower canopy has an upper peripheral edgecoupled to the rope which is coupled to the upper ring, the intermediatecanopy has a lower peripheral portion covered on the upper peripheraledge of the lower canopy, and the upper canopy has a lower peripheralportion covered on an upper peripheral edge of the intermediate canopyso as to form a plurality of lower openings between a lower peripheraledge of the intermediate canopy and the upper peripheral edge of thelower canopy and a plurality of upper openings between a lowerperipheral edge of the upper canopy and the upper peripheral edge of theintermediate canopy for air escape when wind caught beneath the canopyassembly applies pressure to an inner surface of the canopy assembly ina fully extended condition.
 2. The windproof umbrella of claim 1,wherein each of the ropes is secured between a center portion of aplurality of sectors of the upper peripheral edge of the lower canopy bystitching and the upper ring, respectively.
 3. The windproof umbrella ofclaim 1, wherein the upper ring comprises a plurality of through holesprovided around the peripheral portion thereof in which a node of thesecond end of the rope is locked under the through hole.
 4. Thewindproof umbrella of claim 1, wherein an orientation of each of theropes is at an angle between −30 degrees and +30 degrees with respect toa horizontal direction of the shank.
 5. The windproof umbrella of claim1, wherein each of the ropes is nonelastic.
 6. A windproof umbrellacomprising: a foldable frame including a shank, a hub on a top of theshank, a sliding upper ring on the shank, a torsion spring biasedbetween the hub and the upper ring, a locking tab below the upper ring,a lower ring below the locking tab, a plurality of ribs, each having oneend pivotally linked to the hub, and a plurality of stretchers, equal tothe number of the ribs, each having one end pivotally linked to thelower ring and an other end thereof pivotally linked to a middle portionof a corresponding one of the ribs; a plurality of ropes having a firstend and a second end; and a canopy assembly covered on the stretchedframe and including an upper canopy, an intermediate canopy, and a lowercanopy each consisting of a plurality of sectors all of canopies beingconcentric and in a partial covering relation between any two adjacentones, wherein the lower canopy has an upper peripheral edge coupled tothe rope which is coupled to the upper ring, the intermediate canopy hasa lower peripheral portion covered on the upper peripheral edge of thelower canopy, and the upper canopy has a lower peripheral portioncovered on an upper peripheral edge of the intermediate canopy so as toform a plurality of lower openings between a lower peripheral edge ofthe intermediate canopy and the upper peripheral edge of the lowercanopy and a plurality of upper openings between a lower peripheral edgeof the upper canopy and the upper peripheral edge of the intermediatecanopy for air escape when wind caught beneath the canopy assemblyapplies pressure to an inner surface of the canopy assembly in a fullyextended condition.
 7. The windproof umbrella of claim 6, wherein eachof the ropes is secured between a center portion of a plurality ofsectors of the upper peripheral edge of the lower canopy by stitchingand the upper ring, respectively.
 8. The windproof umbrella of claim 6,wherein the upper ring comprises a plurality of through holes providedaround the peripheral portion thereof in which a node of the second endof the rope is locked under the through hole.
 9. The windproof umbrellaof claim 6, wherein an orientation of each of the ropes is at an anglebetween −30 degrees and +30 degrees with respect to a horizontaldirection of the shank.
 10. The windproof umbrella of claim 6, whereineach of the ropes is nonelastic.